Celebrity Cruises

What sailing with Celebrity Cruises is really like

Celebrity Cruises sits in a comfortable, well-defined space: more refined than a mainstream holiday ship, less formal than the white-glove world of ultra-luxury. The result is a holiday that feels genuinely grown-up — unhurried evenings, menus that reward attention, and ships designed to feel like destinations in their own right — without demanding a black-tie wardrobe or a matching bank balance.

The fleet ranges from the thoroughly modernised M-Class ships such as Celebrity Millennium and Celebrity Infinity, to the striking Edge Series vessels led by Celebrity Edge and its sisters Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Ascent. The newest addition, Celebrity Xcel, continues that evolution. Whichever ship you board, the philosophy is consistent: thoughtful design, generous space, and a sense that the holiday begins the moment you step on board.

Dining: the heart of the experience

Food is where Celebrity earns its reputation. Every sailing includes the Main Restaurant, where nightly menus blend classic and contemporary dishes and you can dine on your own schedule or choose a set seating. The open-air Lawn Club Grill lets you grill your own meal — USDA beef, seafood, poultry and vegetables among more than twelve options — on real grass with the ocean as a backdrop, and it is included in your fare.

Specialty dining carries an extra charge but offers something genuinely special. Le Petit Chef® uses 3D table projection to turn your plate into a theatrical stage before each course arrives. Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud draws on the acclaimed chef’s global travels for its menu. Raw on 5 is a dedicated sushi restaurant with a menu created by chef Yoshikazu Okada and paired with imported sakes selected by a sake specialist. Fine Cut Steakhouse brings serious American steakhouse cooking to sea. Booking ahead is wise for all of them.

Guests in AquaClass cabins dine at Blu Restaurant — a quieter, spa-inspired space serving clean, inventive cuisine with sustainable and biodynamic wines at breakfast and dinner. Those booked into The Retreat suites eat at Luminae, where Chef Daniel Boulud designs a completely new menu each day.

On board: how the days actually feel

Sea days on Celebrity are rarely idle. The Rooftop Garden on Deck 15 is styled after a resort terrace and included in your fare. The outdoor areas feature basketball, ping-pong, croquet and bocce on the Lawn Club alongside a redesigned Pool Deck and an adults-only Solarium. Cabanas on the pool deck offer a private retreat for those who want one, at a separate hire charge.

By evening, The Club shifts through several personalities — a creative and games space in the afternoon, a live-music and talk-show venue at dusk, and an adults-only nightclub after dark. The Hot Glass experience lets you try glassblowing under instruction and take home the piece you make, though it carries an additional fee.

Art is woven through the ships, with galleries showing contemporary and classic works; you can browse at leisure, join a live auction with a glass of sparkling wine, or ask the Art Team to search a digital archive of more than 10,000 pieces. Cellar Masters invites wine exploration across an extensive global list — complimentary to enter, with individual pours charged to your account or covered by a beverage package. The Sunset Bar at the stern, with its live pop and folk music, is hard to leave at dusk.

Retail on board runs from a first-at-sea Montblanc boutique to Bvlgari, Cartier and Tiffany & Co. — browsing is always free.

Who Celebrity suits best

Celebrity appeals most strongly to couples and solo travellers who want a social, well-fed holiday without a party-ship atmosphere. The dining programme and evening entertainment reward those who enjoy deliberate choices — picking a restaurant, exploring a wine list, catching a show — rather than those who want everything organised for them. Families are welcome and a kids’ menu spans the main dining room, but the ships are designed with adults at their centre.

AquaClass is worth serious consideration if wellness matters to you: the Persian Garden spa access and the exclusive Blu Restaurant come with the cabin grade. The Retreat suite category is for those who want a genuine ship-within-a-ship — private restaurant, dedicated team, and menus that change every single day.

Where Celebrity sails

The range is one of Celebrity’s strongest selling points. Australian readers will find sailings from Sydney covering the South Pacific and New Zealand — the Celebrity Australia programme includes itineraries that require no flight at all for guests already in New South Wales, and a short domestic hop for those arriving from another state. One-way itineraries that finish in a different city connect conveniently via a domestic flight rather than requiring a long-haul journey.

Japan is the single largest destination in the current programme, with sailings departing from Yokohama (Tokyo). South East Asia itineraries leave from Singapore and Hong Kong. The Mediterranean is served from Barcelona, Athens (Piraeus) and Rome (Civitavecchia) — 2027 Mediterranean sailings are available now. Alaska fans will find a strong programme of Vancouver to Alaska cruises. Further afield, South America and the British Isles round out a genuinely global network.

For most of these itineraries — those departing from the United States, Spain, Italy, Greece and beyond — the cruise sits at the centre of a longer trip. Cruise1st can put the flights, hotels and transfers together as one package, so you deal with one booking rather than several.

Specific searches worth opening now: New Zealand cruise deals from Sydney, South Pacific cruises from Sydney, Japan cruise deals, and Celebrity Edge sailings from Sydney in 2027 and 2028.

Why book with Cruise1st

Our Australian cruise experts are available seven days a week — real specialists on the phone before you commit to anything. Celebrity’s cabin grades involve meaningful differences: the gap between an interior, an AquaClass and a Retreat suite is not just size but dining, service and access. We help you match the grade and the fare inclusions to your actual plans, and put the whole holiday — cruise, flights, hotels and transfers — on a single booking. We also back every booking with our Best Price Guarantee.